It's unknown who made this rule, but anyone who goes to participate in a lei tai (martial arts stage) competition seems to have to take a nickname.

"Bottle Opener" and "Triceratops" were naturally not their real names.

Of course, this is also a good thing, because... if this kind of competition used real names, the audience might hear opening introductions like, "Let us welcome, 'John Smith,' and 'James Brown,'" which would obviously be quite boring.

Back to the main topic...

Amid the clamor of the surrounding pirates, the two contestants slowly walked to the center of the "boxing ring."

The gravelly-voiced man stood between the two with experience, preventing them from making physical contact before the official start of the match.

And the two contestants also used this last bit of preparation time to each check their boxing gloves (the gloves were provided by the organizers of the deck boxing match; in order to ensure the safety and entertainment value of the competition, contestants must wear gloves to participate).

When the atmosphere was sufficiently heated, the gravelly-voiced man began to announce the rules: "There are five rules. First, no props of any kind are allowed. Second, no special abilities are allowed. Third, no hitting below the waist. Fourth, no intentionally crippling your opponent. Fifth, no killing."

Speaking of this, he paused, then added, "Those who violate the first four rules will immediately be judged as losers. As for those who violate the fifth rule... hehe..."

He just smiled and didn't say what the punishment would be for killing.

However, all the crew members knew the consequences very well...

On the Queen Anne's Revenge, "deliberately killing a comrade" was a "matter of principle"; anyone who did such a thing... even if they fled to the ends of the earth, Blackbeard would find them and bring them to "justice."

"Alright, do you two have any questions?" After a few seconds, the gravelly-voiced man glanced at the two "fighters" and asked.

"No."

"Start quickly."

The two responded quickly and resolutely, like two male beasts in heat, appearing full of fighting spirit and excess energy.

"Then... the first match of today, 'Bottle Opener' versus 'Triceratops'... now... begin!"

The gravelly-voiced man was also very skilled at phrasing this sentence. He retreated as he spoke, and when he finished the last two words, he had just exited the range of the "boxing ring."

Poof—

Only a second later, the sound of fists colliding had already rang out.

It should be noted that the gloves used in this "deck boxing match" were specially made with magical materials; in addition to the protective functions that ordinary gloves should have, their most crucial function was to "limit the user's maximum physical skills."

Because the members of Blackbeard's pirate crew were generally very strong, if they were allowed to fight bare-handed, even without using "special abilities," it would easily lead to a situation of "three punches and a hit, one person's skin torn and flesh split, another's bones broken and tendons connected."

Such a match, with just a moment of carelessness... could lead to accidental injury, or even accidental death.

Therefore, Garlic Head and the others came up with the idea of "boxing gloves"—those who wore these gloves would have their basic attributes related to physical skills, such as strength, speed, stamina, and resistance to hits... suppressed to a certain level; in this way, it could be guaranteed that this "deck boxing match" would be based on technical competition, rather than simply relying on combat power to crush opponents.

Of course, the "restrictive power" of the gloves themselves also had a limit. Once the wearer's physical abilities exceeded the limit of this item's effect, then wearing them or not would make no difference.

This was also why... none of the ship's officers could participate in this competition.

Poof poof poof—

While I was explaining the setting, Bottle Opener had already gained the upper hand in the match.

It could be seen that he was gradually pushing Triceratops to the edge of the ring with a series of rapid and powerful combos... or rather... next to a wooden barrel.

"Hey! Hold on, you bastard!"

"Go! Knock him down!"

"I bet a week's worth of booze on this! Beat him to a pulp!"

Those "spectators" standing outside the battle circle who had placed bets... could be said to be sparing no effort with their vocal cords; they were all shouting loudly, expressing their positions and motives nakedly.

Perhaps this wasn't the best arena atmosphere, and it had nothing to do with sportsmanship.

But... for this kind of wild competition, it was precisely this kind of atmosphere that was right.

"What do you guys think?" At this moment, Feng Bujue, who was clinging to a rope net high above to watch the boxing match, said to his two teammates beside him, "Who will win?"

Honghu and Snow were also hanging on the ropes at this time, observing the situation in the ring with their far superior vision.

"I don't know much about boxing," Honghu replied in an ambiguous tone after hearing this, "But looking at the scene... that 'Bottle Opener' is about to win, right?"

"Hehe..." At this moment, a look of an experienced driver appeared on Snow's face, and he chuckled, "Brother Honghu, you've misjudged this time..." He paused for half a second, then confidently said, "In my opinion... although the boxing level of these two isn't very good, relatively speaking, 'Triceratops' understands a little bit of basic common sense, so..."

"Oh?" Honghu was quite experienced now. As soon as he heard the meaning of these words, he understood that Snow was preparing to take the opportunity to brag, so he also pushed the boat along and said, "Brother Snow, you seem to know a lot about boxing... Why don't you analyze it for us..."

"Yeah." Feng Bujue also took the opportunity to say, "I'd like to hear it too."

Even though Triceratops in the ring was still being beaten as the three of them spoke, Snow still spoke eloquently with a confident look, "Actually, for insiders, these are all obvious things...

"First of all, look at the posture of the body, the stance of the hands, and... the footwork.

"Look carefully... from the beginning of the fight until now, even though Triceratops has been forced back by his opponent, his overall posture hasn't changed much, and the movement of his feet has maintained a fast, steady rhythm.

"Secondly, look at the defense...

"Professional boxing defense is a very high-level skill; many people think that boxing is a simple sport of two people beating each other, but in reality... its technical content is much higher than many seemingly flashy sports, and 'defensive technique' is the most important part of this.

"Those who think this sport is simple, if they face a professional boxer, let alone exchanging moves... even if the opponent doesn't punch back and lets them hit, they still won't win... because in the face of professional defensive techniques, ordinary people's fists can't even touch the opponent's body.

"Of course... the Triceratops in front of us isn't that powerful, he's just entry-level at best, even so... he's still defending 'impenetrably' so far."

"Hold on." Honghu interrupted at this time, "It's not quite right to say 'impenetrably,' is it?" He pointed to the direction of the ring, "Triceratops has been getting beaten all the time."

"However, there hasn't been a single 'effective punch,' has there?" Snow replied, "Professional-level punches are another matter, but at least this 'Bottle Opener's' fists... if they hit the arm or the outside of the body like this, or are blocked by the gloves... the damage caused is almost negligible."

"Not only is there no damage, on the contrary... it's also causing his stamina to decrease faster than the defending side." At this moment, Feng Bujue suddenly took over Snow's words and said this.

"Heh..." Snow immediately smiled, "So you understand too... Are you pretending again?"

"Yes." Feng Bujue admitted without taking it to heart, "I just asked the question earlier because I wanted to show off my knowledge in front of you two. I didn't expect... you're also a knowledgeable person, so I'll let you take the lead in showing off."

"Uh... after hearing these earnest and vulgar words..." Snow squinted his eyes and complained, "Should I admire your frankness, or marvel at the thickness of your skin?"

As they were chatting, the situation in the ring... suddenly changed.

It could be seen that Bottle Opener was gradually showing signs of exhaustion under the situation of repeated attacks and repeated failures; the strength and speed of his fists were no longer the same as before, and his breathing was becoming heavier and heavier.

Seeing this, Triceratops knew that the time had come. He seized a gap in the opponent's punch... and hit Bottle Opener's chin with a jab counterattack.

Don't underestimate just one punch, an "effective" punch is more useful than ten "ineffective punches" that are blocked by defense.

Bottle Opener staggered at that moment, losing his balance; he took several steps back before regaining his balance... barely avoiding falling to the ground.

Triceratops sneered and chased after him, unleashing a set of combination punches.

Bottle Opener had consumed too much stamina in the previous attack, and his reaction couldn't keep up. He was immediately retreating.

Triceratops, on the other hand, moved lightly and used the width of the field flexibly, maneuvering and changing moves, combining the real and the illusory, and soon disrupted Bottle Opener's footwork and posture... In this way, it was only natural that flaws appeared in his defense.

"Brother Honghu, can you see the difference between the two's punches?" At this moment, Snow spoke again.

Honghu also quickly replied, "Ah... in contrast, it's quite obvious. Bottle Opener's punches mainly rely on brute force, using instinctive punching postures to strike... while Triceratops' punches rely on 'explosive power,' not just his arms and shoulders... he uses the strength from his lower body to his waist and back; after throwing a punch, his body can also quickly regain its balance and prepare to make the next move."

"That's right, that's the difference in the 'offensive' aspect." Snow nodded and added, "If you want to win in this kind of boxing match without 'rounds of rest,' mastering the correct way to punch can be said to be a must... otherwise, you'll be like that Mr. Bottle Opener... even if you seize the opportunity to attack first, you'll exhaust your stamina in a very short time and fall into an irreversible defeat."

Bang—

Before Snow could finish his words, Bottle Opener's sturdy body had already fallen to the ground in the ring.

"Knockdown!" The gravelly-voiced man shouted loudly at the first moment and began to count, "One, two, three..."

Just now, while Snow and Honghu were discussing punching styles, Bottle Opener in the ring had taken five or six more "effective hits" from Triceratops... and these five or six hits were enough to end this match.

"Four... five... six..." Although the gravelly-voiced man could see at a glance that this guy couldn't stand up anymore, for the sake of the show, he was still counting there, and consciously counting slower and slower.

"Get up! Bastard!"

"Damn it... my booze money is gone."

"Yeah~ Good job! Well done!"

Seeing that the victory or defeat had been decided, the audience's reactions were naturally mixed; there were winners and losers... Fortunately, there was a limit to the amount of bets in this gambling game (this regulation was instructed by Blackbeard through his officers, and it was precisely this move that kept the deck boxing match under control within the scope of "small gambling is fun," and no trouble has been caused so far), the winners couldn't make a fortune, and the losers wouldn't jump into the sea to commit suicide.

"...Nine... ten!" The gravelly-voiced man spent nearly twenty seconds to finally count those ten numbers.

He immediately jumped into the arena, grabbed Triceratops' right wrist, and suddenly raised it: "Winner! Triceratops!"

At the moment the result was announced, cheers, boos, and disappointed sighs... intertwined.

Next, it was time to "settle the accounts" for the bettors in the first round and give them time to "place bets" for the second round.

This matter was still handled by Garlic Head and the three of them; the time required to settle the accounts wasn't long, because only those who won money needed to settle. And the time for the second round of betting wasn't very long either, because in the first round, someone would definitely have "lost everything" or "won enough," and therefore not participate in the subsequent betting.

In short, after seven or eight minutes, the preparations for the second round were ready.

The gravelly-voiced man once again stood in the center of the ring and shouted, "Guys! Today's warm-up match seems to have ended a little too quickly, right?" He paused, then smiled, "It doesn't matter... the sooner we finish watching the noobs pecking at each other, the sooner we can see the main event!"

As a host on a pirate ship, he didn't need to pay too much attention to his words and deeds, and didn't have to worry about offending people at all; for example, the phrase "noobs pecking at each other" just now, if it were in a regular competition in the outside world, it would definitely be inappropriate for the host to say this; but on a pirate ship, let alone shouting "noob," it didn't matter if you swore... the foul-mouthed pirates wouldn't hold grudges against each other because of a few unpleasant words.

"Now... please..." After a few seconds, the gravelly-voiced man's tone rose a bit, "the reigning champion of the deck boxing match..."

At the same time, Hairy Brother was actually holding an upside-down iron bucket and using two broken broom handles to beat out a tight drumbeat.

"Forty-five matches... forty-five wins..." The gravelly-voiced man didn't report the number of KOs, because all the victories in the deck boxing match were KOs, "no knockdowns to date... an absolute expert who easily wins every match with absolute advantage...

"He is a giant from the north...

"He is a sea monster crawling out of the abyss...

"He is the creator of pain, the trampler of confidence...

"He is... 'The V-I-K-I-N-G!'"